


Heard on High

by overwhelmed_with_joy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Military, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 12:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2812742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overwhelmed_with_joy/pseuds/overwhelmed_with_joy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles gives Derek a present</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heard on High

Stiles was totally not nervous, nope not at all. Why would he be nervous? This was only the most important day of his life. It wasn’t like if he screwed up, the entire world would know of it, right? He was as cool as a cucumber in December. The reason he wasn’t able to get up from his chair after five attempts was because he was resting and meditating and centering himself and other zen stuff. He was totally not nervous.  
“Stiles?”  
Not nervous at all  
“Stiles?!”  
He could totally do this and it was going to be fine.  
“Stiles!!!”  
Stiles jumped and fell out of his chair at the sudden appearance of elegantly dressed woman carrying sheet music.  
“Merle, when did you get here?” The woman gave him a half questioning half concerned look.  
“Stiles, the whole orchestra has been here for 10 minutes. We’ve been waiting for you to stop muttering to yourself.” Stiles looked up from the floor to see about 100 men and women dressed in tuxes and dresses with musical instruments staring at him with concern in their eyes.  
“Oh, sorry about that. Hi guys.” Stiles gives a feeble wave to the orchestra and they all waved back, the looks on their faces morphing into amusement at the antics of their conductor. Stiles picked himself off the floor and dusted himself off. Merle dusted off his backside and then straightened his tie and fixed his tuxedo.  
“Don’t you look all fancy Mr. S.H. Now just remember that we’re all behind you on this.” Merle motions over to the orchestra who give Stiles encouraging looks. “You have nothing to be worried about Stiles. Whatever might happened tonight, you are doing a wonderful thing and that’s what’s important.” The woman patted Stiles on the cheek and gave him a reassuring smile, “Besides, we’re all good enough that we don’t really need you to conduct us, so if worse comes to worse, just stand there and look pretty.” She gave Stiles a sarcastic smile which he returned in kind. The fake smile slowly moved into a real one.  
“Thank you Merle, I don’t think I could have done this without you.”  
Merle gave Stiles a real smile and then walked over to the grand piano she would be playing tonight.

The idea had been a simple one at first. Stiles missed Derek. That was it. That’s what started this. This had been Derek’s fourth tour and his longest at 10 months. Stiles was proud of Derek, more proud than everyone could ever be. Yes, he worried, yes he prayed, and yes he did everything he could to keep his hopes up but that didn’t change the facts that Derek wasn’t there at night to wipe away the tears and soothe all the dark thoughts that ran through his head. Stiles tried to be strong for his soldier but Stiles wasn’t strong enough not to cry sometimes. There was only so much a small town music teacher could do. When things got really dark, Stiles did what Stiles did best. He research. He research all the volunteer opportunities that he could help with to keep his mind off of the pain and loneliness. He worked at the animal shelter, he helped with every school fundraiser, he read at the library children’s time, he cleaned houses for his neighbors and he sang. Music had always been the thing to help him when life got hard. It had helped him when his mom had died, it helped him when his dad had to work late, it helped him when Scott was in the hospital. He may not have been a great singer but that didn’t really matter. It wasn’t about how good he was but about how it made him feel.

The idea had struck him one night in June when we just could not get to sleep. Derek had emailed him earlier that day, the first email he had received in over a month from his husband and it left him in tears. Derek was still alive and his tour was ending in December. That meant that he would be home for Christmas, their first Christmas since they got married. That was great that that was also six months away and school didn’t start until September, what was he going to do to occupy himself till then, that when the idea struck him. He was going to give Derek the best present he could think of. He just didn’t have any idea what that was going to be but it would be spectacular.

Being Stiles, he loved to talk but he couldn’t always talk about the things that were important to him with the people in town. Sure Scott tried to be supportive and understanding but Scott’s wife wasn’t across an ocean and half a continent. Lydia wasn’t in the country at the moment and it was almost impossible not to get her voicemail. Stiles refused to talk to Jackson and Derek’s old friends didn’t exactly talk to Stiles, they merely tolerated his presence. This is how Stiles found the military spouse chat rooms. Other men and women who understood the pain and loneliness Stiles felt and didn’t question his need to rescue enough corgis to have his own corgi Avenger’s team. He had discovered other chatrooms as well including one for musicians and teachers. The chatrooms really gave Stiles hope and comfort when the corgis were asleep. It was through one of these chatrooms that gave Stiles the idea for his present to Derek. He had been talking to veterans when the topic of music came up and how music always seemed to help the soldiers deal with PTSD and the concept of music therapy all all sorts of other interesting things. This led to Stiles’s great idea. He was going to sing for Derek, something he had never done before. He was going to get a band, or at least a few instruments, and sing for Derek. Unfortunately, there was no one close that was actually good at playing music. All the good ones had left Beacon Hills long ago. Being the resourceful person he was, Stiles posted a wanted add on the net.

_In need of talented musicians to help welcome home soldier for Christmas. If interested, please contact Stiles Stilinski-Hale at xxx-xxx-xxxx or at xxxxxxxxx@gmail.com_

Stiles didn’t think it was the best add he could have come up with and apparently the rest of the world thought the same since almost no one responded to it. It was almost a month later when Stiles actually got a reply from a someone.

_Dear Mr. Stilinski-Hale,_   
_I recently found your add on my news feed and had a few questions for you. What exactly were your plans regarding musicians and what branch of the military if your soldier in?_   
_Sincerely,_   
_M. J_

Stiles was amazed that someone was actually interested in helping him. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he was willing to share with this M.J. but since they were the only person to contact him and he needed all the help he could get.

_Dear M.J.,_   
_Thank you for responding to my add. I honestly didn’t think I would get any. I was starting to lose hope that my idea was stupid. My husband is a member of the Marines and is one his fourth tour. I am a music teacher in the town of Beacon Hills and since my husband will be returning around Christmas, I was hoping to get a few musicians to play while I sang Christmas carols for him. This will actually be our first Christmas together._   
_Thanks for your interest,_   
_Stiles._

It was almost a week later when Stiles got a response to his last email. He had thought that M.J. was going to be interested in helping him since who would want to give up their time with their loved ones to sing carols for someone else. Stiles was stupefied when he received an email from Juilliard.

_Dear Stiles,_   
_I am sorry it took me so long to respond to your last email. The Summer school here is a complete mess and I was dragged in to replace another teacher who decided that he didn’t want to teach piano anymore, he wants to be an Elvis impersonator. I do hope you don’t have any trouble recieving my work email. Sometimes the spam filter doesn’t let them through._   
_I would be more than honored if you would allow me to accompany you on piano. My husband has been a Navy Seal for 10 years and I understand the pain of waiting. If it isn’t too much to ask, could I bring my husband as well, he will be returning home around the same time and why not kill two birds with one stone ._   
_Sincerely,_   
_Merle Jensen._

Stiles stomach did somersaults. Merle Jensen? The Merle Jensen. The Broadway Star? The Piano prodigy? The woman who is said to be Mozart reincarnated wanted to accompany Stiles on piano. This was how Stiles Stilinski-Hale simple gift idea became so much more.

Over the next couple of days, Merle and Stiles exchanged emails about the performance. Stiles of course agreed about Merle bringing her husband and asked if she knew what else they would need. It being the middle of July, most didn’t didn’t think that far ahead but Stiles had noticed something about his military spouse chatroom. It seemed that a lot of soldiers were coming home for Christmas this year and many of them had no idea what they were going to. They wanted to spend the holiday with them, but they also wanted to show their husbands and wives how much they were missed.

  
_Dear Merle,_   
_I have a rather strange request to make of you. Could you invite a few more musicians with you. I can’t explain it in full detail but I think I’m going to need a few more musicians._

Within minutes

_Stiles,_   
_How many do you want?_

Stiles was busy the next few weeks. He had been sending out invitations to all of his friends and their families for what he called a “Christmas Present to all for all”. Aside from trying to figure out what he was doing, he had also started taking voice lessons so that he didn’t embarrass himself to badly in front of everyone. He would have everything planned out or at least he thought he would until he received an unknown email.

_Dear Mr. Stilinski-Hale,_   
_I would like to offer my full the support to your endeavor and would like to know when practices are. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask. I look forward to working on such a wonderful performance._   
_Sincerely,_   
_Capt. Ian Turner_   
_United States Air Force_

Stiles received dozens of emails from all over the country from musicians, singers, choirs, and military personnel who wanted to if they could join in Stiles’s performance. Stiles had no idea what was going on but the amazing amount of support these people were giving brought him to tears. He quickly found out why all these people were emailing him and asking him when practices when he checked the paper one day, on it was his face and a blurb about him.

“California Music teacher brings music and Christmas to returning Veterans”

It turns out that Merle and had contacting everyone she could think of and asked them if they would be interested in Stiles present. She had forwarded his original add and added some about Derek and him and how this was their first Christmas together and so on. It apparently spread like a chain letter because every professional musicians in the United States wanted to be apart of it. Stiles was floored, literally on the floor, when he called Merle.  
“This is Merle Jensen.”  
“How?” was all Stiles managed to get out.  
“You’re Welcome. Now where exactly is Beacon Hills. I’m having a humdinger of a time finding it.”

Thus began the most hectic three months of Stiles life. Thanks to the power of Skype, Stiles was able to meet and listen to many of the singers and musicians and they were even able to have mass practices a few times, Time Zones allowing, and sooner than wanted, December was upon them. The Beacon Hills Airport was flooded with guests arriving from all over the country for Stiles’s present to Derek.

Stiles had been elected to be conductor as it was his idea to begin with. That way when he actually wen to sing, his voice wasn’t hoarse from singing all evening long. The rehearsals went great, everything sounded wonderful and somehow the few short weeks brought everything together. It wasn’t a surprise when the whole of Beacon Hills got in on the present as well. They knew Stiles was planning something, he always was, but they had no idea how big it was. Business in Beacon Hills boomed that winter and soon even the small businesses that were struggling were able to have a merry Christmas. Soon, it was the big day, the day that Derek and the other military personnel were landing in California.

Derek was shocked to not see Stiles at the airport when he arrived. He knew that they hadn’t emailed in a while but he expected that his husband would at least come and see him home. It was strange. What was even stranger was that there were no families at the airport at all. Some of the other passengers were starting to look a bit worried until a man in a driver’s suit walked up to them.  
“Mr. Hale?” Derek raised his hand  
“That would be me.”  
“Excellent, this way please. The others will be arriving shortly to retrieve your fellow servicemen and women.”  
With a look of confusion, Derek followed behind the driver his car. After helping Derek into the backseat, they took off towards Beacon Hills.  
“Excuse me?”  
“Yes Mr. Hale?”  
“Could you tell me what’s going on.”  
“I’m afraid that would ruin the surprise Mr. Hale, but don’t worry, all your questions will be answered shortly.”

They drove for about 30 minutes when the arrived at a giant concert hall Derek does not remember being there when he left. As he got out, he was asked to leave his duffle bag in the car. The other cars were starting to arrive and the others were getting out. They all looked around confused until one of them saw a sign saying “Military this way.” Derek lead the way into a lobby where they were asked to wait a moment by a group of little old ladies.

“Is everyone here?”  
A nod  
“Is everyone ready?”  
Multiple nods  
“Singers?”  
nods  
“Choirs”  
Nods  
“Orchestra?”  
nods  
“Conductor?”  
Stiles nods to himself and to Merle  
“Let’s do this.”

It was dark in the room when Derek and his fellows entered. There were small lights showing the walkways but aside from that, there was nothing.  
“What is going on?” Derek asked out loud.  
Once everyone was seated, a single light come one showing someone on the stage. It was Merle.

“Thank you one and all for coming tonight. It is my great privilege and honor to welcome you tonight. This night would not be possible without you.” the soldiers started to politely clap, still unsure what was going on.  
“Most, if not all of you probably have no idea what is going on. Tonight is a very special night as it is Christmas Eve, a time when families come together to celebrate the glory and life of one who sacrificed so much for all. Tonight we celebrate that life and the lives of all of you who sacrificed for us everyday. Thank you from the bottoms of all of our hearts for your service.” More clapping and cheering, this time from the sides of the hall. “This night was made possible because of one man’s simple wish to give his husband a very special first Christmas. It is thanks to his inspiration that all of us here tonight to share it that present.”  
“Tonight is not merely being celebrated by us here tonight, but by people all over the world. We are currently being streamed live to our service men and women overseas. It was our conductors wish that tonight not be merely about him and his family but the families of all the people who have loved ones who are serving or have served. 100% of the thousands that have been donated to this event is being donated to the various veteran and military organizations across the country.  
More clapping and cheering with the loudest coming from the soldiers. Merle Smiled and nodded to the front, “Without further ado, may I introduce our conductor for this evening and the singing of our first song, Mr. Stiles Stilinski-Hale.” Merle walked off stage as Stiles a light shown on Stiles at his podium. He turned to face the audience, tears in his eyes looking straight at Derek. Without any preamble he sang

“Angels we have heard on high  
Sweetly singing o'er the plains  
And the mountains in reply  
Echoing their joyous strains…”

It was the song he was singing when he first met Derek all those years ago. Derek smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. He was home.


End file.
